Holiday books: children's titles

Picture Books

City Dog, Country Frog, by Mo Willems; illustrated, by Jon J Muth (Hyperion; 60 pages; $17.99; ages 3-6). Unlikely friendship grows over a year in naturalistic watercolors of the season to address themes of constancy and impermanence.

Knuffle Bunny Free, by Mo Willems (Balzer + Bray; 40 pages; $17.99; ages 3-7). There's pain and gain as Trixie loses her beloved stuffie, this time on a plane to Amsterdam to visit Oma and Opa. A picture-perfect trilogy is now complete.

Art & Max, by David Wiesner (Clarion; 40 pages; $17.99; ages 5-8). Two fancy desert lizards explore the meaning of art with surrealistic consequences that spotlight design, collaboration and creativity.

The Quiet Book, by Deborah Underwood; illustrated by Renata Liwska (Houghton Mifflin; 32 pages; $12.95; ages 3-5). Metaphors abound amid pale pencil drawings about the "many kinds of quiet" - telling secrets, the first snowfall and bedtime.

The Boss Baby, by Marla Frazee (Beach Lane; 40 pages; $16.99; ages 4-8) With Wall Street aplomb, a new baby runs mom and dad 24/7 - demands, fits and required services.

April and Esme: Tooth Fairies, by Bob Graham (Candlewick; 36 pages; $16.99; ages 5-7). Daniel loses his first tooth, and two winged sisters make their first house call, reward coin and cell phone in hand.

It's a Book, by Lane Smith (Roaring Brook; 32 pages; $12.99; 5-up). There is clear bias in the digital versus print debate as a jackass with a laptop offers to recharge a monkey's book.

The Boy in the Garden, by Allen Say (Houghton Mifflin; 32 pages; $17.99; ages 5-7). A boy has an unsettling encounter with an old Japanese folktale. The watercolors are elegantly clean. The line between reality and fantasy is not.

Interrupting Chicken, by David Ezra Stein (Candlewick; 40 pages; $16.99; ages 4-8). Red Riding Hood is saved, thanks to a little red chicken who repeatedly interrupts Papa's bedtime stories to insert herself as heroine.

Above San Francisco, by Robert Cameron and Nina Gruener (Cameron + Company; 24 pages; $12.99; ages 2-5). A flying photographer captures stunning views including the new California Academy of Sciences and the Giants' AT&T; Park in a jaunty, posthumously published board book.

Dust Devil, by Anne Isaacs; illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky (Schwartz & Wade; 48 pages; $17.99; ages 5-9). Swamp Angel outgrows Tennessee. She heads for Montana and takes on ornery outlaws in her second tall-tale whopper.

Pecan Pie Baby, by Jacqueline Woodson; illustrated by Sophie Blackall (Putnam; 32 pages; $16.99; ages 5-8). A sister-to-be awaits the birth of the "ding-dang baby" in an ode to honesty.

Fiction

A Tale Dark and Grimm, by Adam Gidwitz (Dutton; 256 pages; $16.99; ages 10-up). Violence, irreverence and vision merge in this extrapolated version of Hansel and Gretel.

Countdown, by Deborah Wiles (Scholastic; 392 pages; $17.99; ages 10-up). Visual "footage" sets this "documentary novel" during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Eleven-year-old Franny fears annihilation, worries about family and negotiates friendship in a world on the brink.

Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same! by Grace Lin (Little, Brown; 44 pages; $14.99; ages 6-8). Identical twins are individuals, too. Six vignettes about haircuts, dumplings, chopsticks and such prove the point.

The Red Pyramid, by Rick Riordan (Hyperion; 516 pages; $17.99; ages 10-up). Egyptology propels the nonstop action as a brother and sister search for truths, historical and familial.

Turtle in Paradise, by Jennifer Holm (Random; 192 pages; $16.99; ages 8-12). An 11-year-old Pennsylvania girl encounters poverty and family secrets while staying with unruly cousins in Florida during the Depression.

The Little Prince, by Joann Sfar (Houghton Mifflin; 110 pages; $19.99; ages 10-up). The beloved fable about a flier stranded in the desert is re-created as a graphic novel with its own special mystery and allure.